the capital. the intentions are know good. they have the city surrounded probably within the next 48 hours. they are asking for help. there is only so much we can do at this point. we will pray. tucker carlson is up next. i am watters and this is my world. >> ♪ ♪ >> tucker: welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." happy monday. no sane american approves of what russian has done in ukraine. we don't. on twitter you see democrats pretendinging their political opponents support this invasion. joe biden and his staff so mismanaged the world that

vladimir putin invades ukraine but all of this is your fault. that's a lie. in this country everyone understands that the invasion of ukraine is bad for us and the world and vladimir putin is bad too. those are settled facts. you can stop debating them. the question is what do we do next? vladimir putin's badness doesn't absolve us of our responsibility to think about how to protect this country and the rest of the free world. putin's badness makes wise decision making in the united states more important than ever. it's not easy to see a longview when you are angry. tanner green wrote a piece called pausing at the precipice. americans are outraged. but outrage is not enough.

it's not a foreign policy. he writes moral outrage can be counter-productive. "a righteous reaction may be a dangerous one. it's outcomes and not intentions that matter most. failures to examine the motivations behind our choices may lead to decisions that feel right but fail to reduce the human toll of war in the long run. ." our leaders could turn this into a historic disaster. they have done it before. the two main things to worry about. first, this war could get much worse. we could see many americans die. joe biden is telling us we won't commit american troops to ukraine and claims he opposed the vaccine mandate.

is he telling the truth? even if he is in this case, biden can't see the future. he has no idea what will happen tomorrow or next week or next year. nobody does. many in it washington are pushing for a hot war with nuclear arms with russia and a no place so american forces would shoot down russia jets. the ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky is on board with it this. many in congress report too. >> we need to at the invitation of ukraine, declare ukraine a no-fly zone enforced by nato and the united states. the air space is still contested by the ukrainians. we could shut down russia air

operations even if we don't engage russia troops on the ground. >> tucker: that's a lie. it's hard to overstate how dishonest that claim is. shooting down russian planes will mean engaging russian troops. if vladimir putin is crazy that could spiral into nuclear conflict. you would only suggest that if you have nothing it lose. and he doesn't but many of us have a lot to lose. we have children. we should pause before we do that. adam thinks you are a traitor if you worry about where this might go. nothing bad will happen.

maybe nothing bad will happen, but something very bad could happen fast. adults know that. watch any war in history. amazeingly some of those adults favor this anyway. two former commanders in nato are pushing for armed confrontation with the russian military. breedlove acknowledged that a no-fly zone would amount to an act of war. bleedlove said he is for it anyway. okay. this is the moment when a functions news media would ask what happens next? what does that mean? how far is the united states and its population who would fight that war prepared to take this conflict and to what end? once we stop bombing russia will putin stop bombing ukraine?

what will be left of ukraine? how are we sure putin won't go nuclear? and then, what will china's role in this war be? thanks to the effort of the biden administration china is vladimir putin's strongest ally. china signed a long-term did energy deal with russia. they have skin in the game am how sure are we that the chinese will stay out of a war? how do we know they won't take down to our digital infrastructure which they control in this country. reporters are not asking that. asking questions is immoral. richard is demanding that american troops fight the russian army. a massive russian convoy is 30

miles from kyiv. does the west watch in silence as it rolls?" the answer is we can't watch in silence. this is moral blackmail. no one in america feels anything but revulseon at the sight of russia in ukraine. how do we respond? thoughtfully is the answer. richard hoss the president of the council on foreign relations is the man you would go to. that's his job. whatever you think of that council, they are not a radical organization.

their job is to look at the consequences of actions. but not mim. -- anymore. richard hoss is in favor for a hot war with russia and calling a regime change. what could go wrong? >> we need to respond to his war of choice. raise the economic costs at home and the military costs on the ground. i hate be to so blunt. the most vulnerable thing putin is vulnerable to is dead russia soldiers. make sure ukraine has the means to resist. >> tucker: his job is a cable news pundit. that's the problem of the level of discourse around this war. when real people with jobs that have actual authority talk about

cable news people things can go side ways. it was not in defense of vladimir putin to point out a shooting war with russia could have massive consequences for us. it's not just russian soldiers who would die. many americans would die. it's not certain we would win that war. sorry. ask anyone familiar with the current state of readiness of the u.s. military? is victory a conclusion? no. this is not saddam hussein we are talking about. are we ready for all of this? we are moving down a path that could result in the destruction of the united states. americans may be mad at putin, but they are wary of where our leaders are taking us next. a new cnn poll shows the

majority of americans oppose america getting involved. we could use a sober national coverings about the potential consequences of where people like richard are taking us now. instead we are getting baffoon like kinsinger. he posted images of twitter about something called the ghost of kyiv. it was a hoax but he had no idea because he knows nothing. a sitting member of congress tweeting about a war like it's a cable news show. we own the russian airports? really. get some respect. he attached a photo shop image

of a comedian as the pilot. let's pause and think this true. that seems fair. as we do that it's worth considering what is happening here in the united states concurrent with the war and justified by this war. we are speaking of of the assault on civil rights underway. it it would be ironic if a defensive democracy on the other side of the world led to an erosion of democracy here. that's where we are headed. the moment russian troops rolled across the border into ukraine democrats wasted no time in attacking not just putin but their political opponents in this country. what did they have to do with this? we are all in this together but they leveraged it war as human suffering to make partisan points.

one msnbc regular said the whole conflict was the result of a plot injured by vladimir putin's mole the former president of the united states. >> trump weakened the alliances to prevent putin from achieving his goals like nato and our relationship with our european partners. trump was put in as a bulldozer. >> tucker: we spent 3 years holding the lunacy of the russia-gate people and lying as evidence maybe they should not have an effect on the conversation about politics. somehow those very same unbalanced people are having an effect on our foreign policy. try to follow the logic here.

donald trump tells europe not to become dependent on russia oil which he does. for is reason putin waits to invade ukraine until his man in the white house is gone and playing golf in florida and now it's donald trump's fault that europe is dependent on russia for energy. you can imagine msnbc viewers nodding along. yes, this makes sense. what is scary it's not confined to msnbc. the overlap between msnbc guests shouting nonsensical partisan talking points and democratic policy makers is profound saying people in the united states are working for vladimir putin.

eric stalwell took the maxium campaign donation from the lobbiest for nord stream-2 which will give russia greater control over the energy grid and from which the russian government profits. eric stalwell is taking money from the russian. he had sex with a chinese spy? with a russian spy? we don't know. the one guy that should not be calling anyone traitors is accusing of anyone else rooting for russia. >> we have republicans rooting for russia. donald trump, and mike pompeo and tucker carlson are rooting for russians. that's replayed on russian tv to rally russians. >> tucker: that's an awful thing to play. we hesitateed to play that.

it's an effort to cover their own tax. in ancient history a week ago they told us that sanctions would prevent a russia invasion. they were wrong about that. if there was a single american who deserves scorn and blame for the invasion of ukraine it's joe biden. it was his job to prevent it. they won't admit that. they are attacking you with partisan goals in mind. democrats plan to use the ukraine invasion in the very same way they used january 6th. that even strength takes place. no one is for it.

no one defended the riot on january 6th. we certainly didn't. history is written immediately for partisan motives. you take the hysteria over that event and you use that to purge the country of the democratic parties political opponents. they hate populace politics more than they hate vladimir putin. they are using this opportunity, this war in eastern europe to shut down dissent in the united states. you are seeing in the allies first. several including canada band journalists who don't agree with their view of the war. if we are going to protect democracy that should start at home. democracy is defined by the tolerance of the regime for dissent. no dissent is allowed. they pulled us from the air

waves in canada. that led to this quote: will biden crackdown on russian disinformation and tucker carlson who promotes russian talking points. they are using this to shut down any journalist who questions the democratic party. how did we get here? how corroded have these people become? they are calling for government censorship of dissent and telling us they are defense democracy. here's nancy pelosi. >> we talked about the fact the

assault on ukraine was an assault on democracy. barbara talked about the assault on our democracy in our own country. >> the fight for democracy is taking place around the world. it's not only in ukraine. it's in our own country. through the campaigns of misinformation and disinformation we see this happening this ukraine. now we see them trying to take away the voting rights of people of color, african-americans and young people and the seniors and the disabled. >> tucker: you can only feel deep sadness that they represent you in our legislature. as long as we are punishing people who are alive. china is now russia's strongest

ally in the war. that has implications for nancy pelosi whose family got rich from china. you should be very aware that there are partisan forces using the war in ukraine to accomplish political objectives here and gain more power for them. it is not about shutting down fox news. it's about shutting you up. if you doubt that, you should know that senator mark warner of virginia wrote a letter to his donors in tech demanding they restrict the spread of russian propaganda. we are sensitive on the topic and you should be too. warren reported that his donors

in big tech complied with his demands. >> you sent letters to the leading social media companies, meta, which runs facebook, asking them to prevent russia propaganda operations from appear on their platforms. you have received any responses yet that they take that action? >> well, david, the short answer is yes. every one of these platforms has taken down some of the russian activity and they are not making money off russian ads. that's good am i commend these platforms. >> tucker: contrast with the clip from msnbc we just played. dumb people doing propaganda and telling you russia invading

ukraine is about racism in the south. you will notice that the cia shield said russian state media or russia propaganda. he is not talking about banning russian state media. he is talking about banning russian propaganda a term he gets to define and censoring the opinions of americans. that's not allowed in a democracy. in a democracy, citizens who rule have a right to have any opinions they want, period. that's not an ancillary freedom. freedom of speech is the central freedom we have. it's the whole point the country. there is no point in supporting ukraine if our leaders ignore our own bill of rights.

we should demand they respect our bill of writers before they take a step in order defending any other democracy, period. there are sirens going off in ukraine at 3:21 in the morning there. ben? >> right now it's quiet. we heard sirens for the last few days in lviv. this part of the country hasn't been affected the way kyiv has been effective. the new few days are a pivotal period. over the last 5 days putin has been slowed down in a bigger way than he expected by the ukrainian army and he took a step back almost. the fear is he will double down over the coming days. the ukrainian army did well with the guns and stingers provided by the americans.

we are now seeing a huge convoy move to kyiv. it is feared they will unleash hell in these cities. we have seen today an increase in attacks on kharkiv and the use of cluster bombs and evacuates. the feeling is vladimir putin thought he could use less of the army and decapitate the government. that hasn't happened. the next few days will be critical sosee how far he goes. you have to be concerned about the exodus of people and the humanitarian issues. the u.n. said that half a million people fled this country in the last 5 days. that figure is likely to rise. up to 5 million if this war continues. we were at train stations today and saw thousands of people trying to escape the country. they can't get on trains. tickets are no good. they don't know where they are

going. they left their livelihoods and families and homes with things on their back. many doesn't see this invasion coming. the government said it was not imminent. suddenly a mass off push to the border and how european countries will handle it remains to be seen. >> tucker: thank you very much. bennia hosts a live hour from ukraine later tonight here on fox news 11 p.m. eastern time. the economic effects of all of thissor profound. we are not seeing them in the west yet. they are obvious in russia. russian ruble slumped by 30%. one of the effects of the economic pressure to it force putin to pull out of ukraine, but in real life the short term is to it push russia close to china.

what are the implications long-term? jack carr is a former navy seal sniper and an author. a very wise person. thanks for joining us. you have be very upset about the invasion of ukraine and still think to the consequences of a russian-china alliance. what do you think those consequences might be. we have a hard time thinking about the next tweet not just next week. you put up tweets in the opening monologue that showed how our political discourse has fallen to one or two sentences on that platform. stop tweeting and start reading. in particular our senior military leaders. the china situation is most interesting. we are focussed on ukraine and on a pipeline that takes energy from russia through ukraine. we are focussed on those things

but missing that chinese-russian alliance. russia pushed into the shipping lanes in the artics. the russian don't have much long tore go talking about their population. outside of russia. ukraine is the largest ethnic russian population there. there is a book the accidental super power. in 2014 this predicted in 8 years russia will need to invade ukraine to get those people so they could continue to live. they are two generations away. weigh have them move into arctic so they have the shipping lanes and a base in ukraine they need also for shipping and now we

have taiwan and the east and south china sea and the philippine sea. and china thinks that taiwan is a part of china just like russia thought that ukraine was a part of russia. they met stiffer resistiance. if had a controlled ukraine by now china would have a different response. they look centuries head looking to the next tweak. >> tucker: and china needs the energy and has an energy supplier in russia. jack carr, appreciate it you put it in perspect and people read "the root of knowledge." . >> becoming energy independent again it should be obvious to it all americans how important that

is to continue to lead on the world stage and not have politician its get rich off investments in places like china and russia. >> tucker: amen. jar carr. ukraine citizens are being given arms and so are politicians. a ukrainian member of parliament joins us tonight. thank you very much for joining us. i don't know if you can hear me. but if you can, are you personally taking up arms to repel the invaders? >> yes, on kyiv the largest state is under the invasion of russia. they want to take it over in

every way. there no citizen that is not thinking about he will do about russia taking over the city. they are taking up arms or instrument they can to resist. >> tucker: have you seen russian forces within the city? >> yes. we have seen russian forces. there have been skirmishes with visser groups. -- various groups. we have hundreds of pow's now. we have them moving from the north and trying through the east. they are trying to -- south and west is mostly open. we are trying to keep it that way by taking back the west of kyiv and the front lines. that's the point to keep our

city [inaudible]. >> tucker: do you plan to stay? >> very much so. our president is very near where i standing right now. the whole government is staying in kyiv. it's our capital city. we won't just give it up. this is our country. we don't want to allow putin's illusions of grandeur destroy our dreams and independence of liberty. we will fight for that. >> tucker: has there been a lot of fighting in the neighborhood around kyiv? >> yes. yes, yes. lots of fighting in the north of kyiv. they came in with a very big column. they moved through chernobyl and endangered europe by taking over the plant. they have machinery and infantry and they got into north of kyiv. citizens rallied around the

attempt to destroy them. they pushed them out of the city basically. the fighting right now is heftiest around the city. we are facing versus groups we can push back. >> tucker: amazing. god speed and good luck to you. >> thank you, tucker. >> tucker: you are hearing people say that a lot of people in washington that the united states ought to impose and enforce a no-fly zone over ukraine. that's as the former commander at nato was honest enough to acknowledge an act of war against russia. the question is not whether that's deserved or whether americans would like to defend ukraine. probably most would like to key ukraine rid of the russian troops there. what would it mean to go to war with russia? jen psaki was asked about this

today in the briefing and dismissed it. that's a bad idea. watch. >> any way where the u.s. would support a no-fly zone over ukraine? >> that would require implentation by the u.s. military. the u.s. military would be shooting down planes. that would put us into a place where we are in a military conflict with russia. that's not something the president wants to do. those are the reasons why it's not a good good. >> tucker: that would be the definition of an armed conflict with russia and where does it go from there. the voice sensibility for jen psaki for once. why are so many in washington still calling for it.

john joins us tonight. am i missing something to ask: how much deeper into this war does the united states want to go? >> that's a good question. it's a question that prudence and caution and circ spect leadership would be asking in public. you talked about adam kinzinger going on twitter and talking tough about a no-fly zone. that kind of analysis doesn't get as far as what happens when you shoot the first russian plane down. that means you are at war. the u.s. at war with russia. it's reckless, tucker. there are a lot of people in washington that would like to have a war with russia. they have their own reasons for wanting that. >> tucker: that's for sure.

some is pure emotion and people get carried away. we all get carried away but this is too big of a question to be carried away if you are a leader. biden is taking the right position right now on this. there is almost no bad idea he hasn't fallen for like packing the supreme court. if he gets enough pressure he will change his view. how long is that? >> it's hard to say. this is the one issue in washington where you can get bipartisan support. republicans and democrats said let's get u.s. troops involved in the european land war. the republicans, the neo-conservative faction, the never-trump faction of the republican party they see this as how to seize control of the gop again. american voters and republicans have moved on from the neo-cons,

we won't fall for this delusion that foreign wars are more important than what is going on at home. >> tucker: and having a land war in the ukraine, trying to explain how that would make the u.s. safer. they don't even care. >> where are the weapons of mass destruction in iraq. >> tucker: we should deport david in my view. thank you. a huge russian convoy is on the out skirts of kyiv. it's 40 miles long. live to that city in a moment. and one u.s. senator josh holly

is proposing new legislation to restore domestic energy independence. >> gun combine.

>> tucker: 20 to 4 in the morning in ukraine. russia forces are advancing on the capital city kyiv. trey yingst is live there. >> good evening. we heard air raid sirens throughout the city. russia continues an air campaign against the ukraine capitalism the ground forces the officials in kyiv are more concerned about. a russian convoy fourth -- 40

miles is headed to kyiv. they think they will try to surround this capital city to push forward and overthrow the government. we heard explosions in the distance tonight. the russian forces targeting a radar system. there are many civilians underground. they are playing the heaviest price. thousands fleeing the west. other waiting it out. images today heart breaking inside a hospital this ukraine. women and children huddling for shelter trying to stay away from the air campaign. the word of one mother stood out. take a listen. >> [speaking foreign language]. >> we are running out of food. local charities promised to bring some. we are waiting for bread and some juice for children.

>> real concerned this city could be cut off amid a larger military offensive. >> tucker: thanks. one thing you learn, so much is unclear 5 days into this war, one thing is very clear. countries with ample energy are affluent and independent and those that don't are not. they depend on other countries. why is china involved in this? because china needs russian energy and thanks to the complete incompetence of the biden administration they have. we don't have energy independence anymore. senator josh holly wants to restore. i don't think anybody watching at this point. global warming be damned doubts your point that we need to be

energy independent or we will always be drawn into conflicts like this. what would your legislation do to restore energy independence? >> it would reverse the biden administration policies that green lighted the russians. they would say that the pipeline that joe biden shut down will be reopened. it would make it the balance of the united states government to make this country energy it independent and produce full throttle. russia is not a country so much as a gas station. joe biden has allowed them to have energy dominance. we surrendered our energy independence to them. time to shut down their energy sector and returns to full production. -- hawley. >> tucker: if you shut down the russian energy sector, what

would do to gas prices? it would go to $9? >> yes, that's the problem with what this administration has done. when joe biden came into power and immediately throttled down american energy. no more oil and gas leases and shut down our pipeline, it makes us dependant on russia. that's what putin is banking on. right now americans are suffering through run away inflation and the ukrainians are receiving a massive invasion in part because of joe biden's lefty politics that empowered people like putin making us dependent on their energy. we need to reverse that. >> tucker: it's so funny how many people buy this nonsense. even the governor of the texas bought into the wind mill lie.

why isn't this a no vote for republicans? i don't know why this is not a campaign issue? >> it it should be pirpts. -- bipartisan. make the germans and europeans buy natural gas from us. we could lead the world. we did. we could again if joe biden's policies were reversed. this is an area where we have to it move on it right now. >> tucker: i wonder about motive here. flying to global warming conferences in a private plane and sucking up to china you don't care about climate change because youure adding to it. what is the motive of policy makers to hobble and shut down america's domestic energy production? why do that.

>> this is joe biden's environment policy and he is enthralled with the environment whackos. they don't like the people who work the oil rigs. they don't have much regard for them. those blue collar workers are the backbone of our economy. put them back to work. >> tucker: they don't care about the environment. american is getting dirtier. they are lecturing us about climate. maybe they just don't like america. >> they don't believe in this country. they don't believe in american strength. they think american strength is bad for the world and makes the world more unstable. exactly the opposite is true. the bottom line is we have to do what is good for the working

people of this country and that begins right now with resoring our energy independence. get this country's energy sector working again. >> tucker: if gas prices spike past $100 a barrel. is there anything the biden administration can do in the short term? they tell us we can mitigate the gas spike. i don't know what would that be. what can they do in the near term? >> beyond a short term release of the oil reserve, but that's no solution. that won't last long. they have to lift the restrictions on new oil and gas leases and the pipelines. they have to move now to get american energy on line. >> tucker: and the big banks have to invest in. it's been strangled. josh hawley, thank you very

much. >> thank you. >> tucker: new pictures of ukraine -- we just got them. the russian military is en route motorized and by foot to the capital city kyiv already bombarded by artillery. we want to take a quick break from coverage of ukraine to acknowledge a major and a welcome change to celebrate. christmas in february in this country. all over the united states officials are dropping pointless mask mandates. california and oregon and washington state. blue states announced their school mask mandates will end. and new york is scrapping vaccine passports for businesses and restaurants. why are they getting rid of all of this? did the science change? this is the surgeon general of

the free state of florida. thanks for joining us. you followed the science. since the beginning. has the science changed on masks and vaccine passports? >> i have a shocking answer for you which is that no, the science hasn't changed. the science as we discussed in the past never changed. we have known before the pandemic and even during the pandemic from the highest quality evidence from clinical trials that the mask mandates were unlikely to have any significant impact. the vaccine passports produced political conflict. >> tucker: yes. making people not trust medical authorities. how many americans were nervous about going to the doctors. they watched doctors lie for two years. the collapse of trust in the american medicine are are you

worried about that? >> it's interesting to hear you say that. it's a point that oftentimes i hear among by scientific colleagues and medical colleagues. but it's absolutely the case. you have doctors that have been shouting from mountain tops that these masks were going to end the pandemic and stop transmission. the same thing with the vaccines. it's been proven false. it's come at great cost to society and to our kids. that's a real issue i think. >> tucker: i think so. you want people to feel confident going to the doctor. hope we get back to that. doctor, thank you. appreciate you coming on tonight. >> thanks, tucker. >> tucker: we should note one

little discussed benefit of ending the mask mandates you will never have to see kamala harris kiss her husband with a mask on. that was too weird in a first world country. many americans remain in ukraine. in the city. kyiv the capital city as a massive russian convoy heads there. this man is leading a team to ukraine to evacuate americans in a field hospital there. this is something we haven't talked about. i wish we had earlier. americans stuck in ukraine. do you have any sense how many there are? >> tucker, we don't know how many there are. i don't think has a straight answer. the united states citizens don't register going into another country and the state department doesn't track them well. that's the same thing the allies saw in afghanistan.

we went in to get my interpreter and him out and got 17,000 people including americans. in the last 60 days we still have 80 americans still in afghanistan. now we are seeing the ukraine and we will help get americans out and provide medical care for the wounded that need help. >> tucker: if the state department is not tracking americans in the country, what is the point of the state department? i thought it was an emergency agency. >> i believe they should. the that they have it set up when an american travels they have the option to register. but the state department does no tracking of u.s. citizens that travel abroad. i believe they should. this is a good lesson. afghanistan was a great lesson and ukraine is a great lesson to know where americans are around

the world where our government should protect them. instead what we have seen in the last year particularly with afghanistan and now ukraine, our united states government leaving americans behind and lying about the circumstances where americans are and the danger they are in and not doing the right thing to help americans upon . we are still seeing americans in afghanistan how much hope do we have for the united states government to get people out of ukraine and they said they won't get people out of ukraine. >> tucker: unbelievable. the russian military according to reports seem very near the capital city of kyiv. we will be back in a moment.

>> ♪ ♪ >> tucker: ukraine capital kyiv

under attack. you are watching a rocket. a massive russian convoy coming closer. a lot going on. let's hope the people in charge have wizz and strength. we are paying for that. see you tomorrow night. the show that is the sworn enemy of of lying, pomposity, smugness and group think. >> sean: a message for the world and vladimir putin. we begin with a fox news alert. russian troops are attempting to encircle ukraine's capital city kyiv. i fear the worst is yet to come. when putin looks weak, god only knows what he is capable of. i am dubious of the reports that are asserting that